State of Tel Aviv, Israel Podcast

In my weekly chat with Ya’akov Katz we focus on the hostages. That’s pretty much the main and only thing on everyone’s mind. This focus was heightened and manipulated masterfully by Hamas during the Passover holiday by the release of two separate videos of Israeli men still in captivity. Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Keith Siegel and Omri Miran, all appeared to be in reasonable physical condition. But, wh...

In Part II of this podcast of my interview with Columbia University Professor Shai Davidai on April 5th, we discuss the similarities between the reluctance of German and Austrian Jews to see the looming crisis almost one hundred years ago and the same tendencies among American and Canadian Jews today. Davidai discusses the ongoing investigation into his conduct that has been launched by the Columb...

On April 5th State of Tel Aviv spoke at length with Columbia University Professor Shai Davidai about his overnight evolution from low-key academic to high profile activist. The catalyst? The October 7th Hamas massacre in southern Israel which galvanized extreme Islamist sympathizers and hard left “progressives.” Literally overnight, Jews and Israel were vilified on campuses, in media, in massive s...

“We face the abyss and we stand tall. I don’t know how I will sit at the Passover table this year.” Sharone Lifschitz made those comments when we met last Friday at the Hostage Family Forum HQ in central Tel Aviv. Her 83-year old father, Oded, remains in Hamas captivity. His wife and Sharone’s mother, 85-year-old Yocheved, was released from a Hamas dungeon on Monday, October 23. Sharone talks abou...

Believe me, our heads are spinning. Each week becomes more intense than the last. And there is a general feeling in Israel that rage is on a collision course with despair. Israel remains mired in conflict in Gaza with no apparent resolution in sight. Hostages remain in captivity six months on and the nation is absolutely dumbstruck. There is very little, if any, trust or confidence in the governme...

Five for Fighting, the stage name of singer/singwriter John Ondrasik, has some crazy timing. He popped over to Israel for a five day immersion in the reality and the pain of our post-October 7th reality. And he was in Tel Aviv on the night that the Islamic Republic of Iran launched more than 300 attack drones and ballistic missiles at us. As we now know, 99% of the offensive weapons were intercept...

Saturday night and Sunday morning were harrowing. For almost two weeks Israelis have been waiting for Iran to attack. A few days ago, the Supreme Leader made clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran would attack Israel directly. Not through a proxy. And, seemingly, Iran would not target a Jewish or Israeli site abroad. For now. Dire warnings of an attack within 24-48 hours were issued on Friday nig...

It was great to have Ya’akov Katz back for our regular Sunday riff and we had a lot on our plates today. We spoke about how Israel seemed stuck in Gaza, not really doing anything dramatic and finding itself in quicksand. But last week the main action was elsewhere: Damascus, DC, Doha. Israel bombed a residence in Damascus that served as a base for IRGC officials when in town and a top General was...

Late-breaking circumstances made it impossible for Ya’akov to do his weekly gig with State of Tel Aviv today but we were fortunate to find the amazing Lt. Col. (res) Jonathan Conricus in Israel and available. Conricus is just back from yet another whirlwind speaking tour in the U.S. and his commentary is always appreciated by our listeners – and major media around the world. Always clear, measured...

One of the most interesting thinkers and writers out there, Batya Ungar-Sargon gets into the moral fecklessness of the “progressive” woke left. What’s so interesting is that Batya was once one of them… and her personal intellectual journey and unfettered candor make for a fascinating discussion. “I’m a leftist” she says. But she rejects the toxic antisemitism that seems to permeate the Left in the...

It’s a pretty gloomy Purim in Israel; a holiday usually all buzzy and fun. On Purim we celebrate yet another close call with annihilation, which invites yet another miracle that saves us in the nick of time, followed by food, festivities and happy stuff. But not this year. Ya’akov and I get into the details of the top stories and issues preoccupying Israelis: the never-ending crisis with the hosta...

Everyone’s hopping mad today, including Ya’akov Katz. He can be excitable but today he was downright livid about the irresponsible comments of Senator Chuck Schumer late last week, backed up by President Biden. Schumer – the most senior Democratic US Senator – basically said that it’s time for Israel to have elections so that PM Netanyahu will be thrown out of the top job. It was disrespectful. St...

One year ago, Simcha Rothman was a household name in Israel and beyond. As Chair of the Knesset Committee on Constitutional, Law and Justice Issues, Rothman was the man in a scorching hot seat, taking the lead in shepherding through the legislature the controversial judicial reform package. Working closely with Minister of Justice, Yariv levin, Rothman bore the brunt of public anger and became a c...

Following his State of the Union address on Thursday night, President Biden was caught on a hot mike saying that he’s due for a “come to Jesus” meeting with PM Netanyahu, expressing his exasperation with the man. Both men are trying to find a way through this war and their impossible political conundrums but the status quo is not going to hold much longer. Biden feels enormous pressure to expand t...

For five months, Michael Levy has inhabited a life that still feels foreign, but he is possessed by a mission to bring home his younger brother, Or, taken hostage by Hamas monsters, as he calls them, on October 7th. The youngest of three brothers, Or left for the Nova Music Festival early on the morning of October 7th with his wife, Eynav, to enjoy a carefree day in the sun. Their two-year-old son...

This week Ya’akov and I delve into two issues. First, we discuss the tragedy that resulted in the deaths of approximately 100 Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday as civilians desperate for food and provisions swarmed an aid convoy. Israel says that the chaos resulted from panic and, quite possibly, Hamas fire in addition to IDF shots. Fact is, what this disaster made clear is that...

On Friday, as I planned ahead to record with Ya’akov on Sunday (today),  I was certain that we would discuss “the day after”, which was much talked about last week, internationally. But, this being Israel, that issue was overtaken by events on Saturday: reports of a breakthrough in talks in Paris to bring home some (sadly, not all) of the hostages and a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday night...

Incredibly, superstar spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel, Eylon Levy, actually has a life off-air. Speaking with State of Tel Aviv earlier this week, Eylon shared a bittersweet vignette from a friend's wedding he attended recently. Turns out all the guys doing shots at the bar were on the team that rescued two Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity recently in an insanely dari...

Just back from a quick trip to Canada and the U.S., Ya’akov tells us he was struck by the insecurity and anxiety he encountered among Jewish groups he met with in Toronto, Detroit, New York, Chicago and Florida. (He sure covers a lot of ground in less than a week.) Their concerns are not much different from those that preoccupy Israelis: Hostages. Civilian casualties and humanitarian suffering in...

Ya’akov Katz is in Detroit today so we recorded a little later than usual, meaning we drop later. But. You’re probably distracted by the Super Bowl and all that goes with it. Among the ads running on TV is one sponsored by the government of Israel and it’s brilliant. Reminding all those dads watching the game of the Israeli fathers held hostage for almost 130 days. As always, we discuss the hostag...

In our weekly chat Ya’akov and I get into the hostage dilemma that continues to tear apart the nation. It corrodes everything and Hamas understands this fully and leverages Israel’s psychic suffering brilliantly. But it feels like we are getting to a point where no victory is more important than bringing them home. Now. We then look at the spectacle of UNRWA imploding. Multiple exposures of UNRWA...

Because she represents the future of Israel. Now sitting with the New Hope party (merged with Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party several years ago). Haskel entered the Knesset in 2015, young, bright and firmly in the back bench. In the years since she has distinguished herself for being principled, focused and whip smart. A mother of three very young daughters, she is consistently a top performer...

Ya’akov Katz is back from his brief trip to London where he lunched with the Prime Minister and then some. But, now it's back to reality and the constant crisis in Israel. Last Friday Israel was on tenterhooks as the International Court of Justice read its preliminary ruling at 2 pm local time. This pertains to the case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Str...

Four years ago Visegrad24 started out as a Twitter account intending to provide a version of current events in Poland and the region that offered a different perspective; one that did not parrot what its founders considered to be an overly left-wing point of view that they felt was pervasive in news coverage. The initial focus of these two young brothers – repatriated Polish lads from an émigré fa...

Ya’akov and I discuss a few of the hot issues that dominated the last week in Israel. Today marks 100 days since the 139 hostages still in Hamas captivity were taken. Their survival is so imperiled, having been held in horrific conditions, denied medical care, starved and subjected to all manner of abuse and torture. The crisis is absolutely gutting Israel and leadership seems resistant to underst...